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Whats the Current Status of GAF in general right now?

Elfstar

Member
its really funny when people say this. because they actually have no idea what 'right leaning' or 'right wing' actually means. i mean i have a few expletives to describe people who come in knowing just some shallow 'OH YOURE RIGHT WING HUH'

next time bud. try to not say the default garbage everyone says and have a complete thought on your own. youre entire post is like a summary of someone writing an article about forums or some kind of internet culture.
What's up with this needless hostility? Pretend i said anti-liberal/modern left/sjw or whatever then, if you feel that would've been more correct, i wasn't trying to paint everyone as nazists or something like that, if that was your concern. Also i think i made a pretty rational, decently balanced post after all, i don't get your aggressive attitude.
 
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What's up with this needless hostility? Pretend i said anti-liberal/modern left/sjw or whatever then, if you feel that would've been more correct, i wasn't trying to paint everyone as nazists or something like that, if that was your concern. Also i think i made a pretty rational, decently balanced post after all, i don't get your aggressive attitude.

its the trt
 

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
you cant try and take the morality of a certain aspect and ignore everything else or even ask everyone to ignore everything else. "why is x in this game" "well why is y in then game". its always and will always be the next logical conclusion and IF you want to say well this shouldnt be in there you have to have an answer in why something else considered worst or at least as bad considered okay
And see that is the problem right there. Thinking “is it okay” rather than “is it well done” is childlike thinking. Value and dignity is not just a matter how of what we allow or disallow. But comparing one form of serious content to another should indeed immediately make one think “If the inclusion of rape is poorly handled, what does make all the murder well-handled?” and there realize it is contextual to the presentation, upon which one realizes the whole game is crafted around bringing meaning to the murder through the characterization and story context in a somewhat realistic human manner including the resulting impacts both personal and social, which wasn’t done with the rape.

Instead, by just looking at the very different question of “why is this allowed?” people kept pointing to the rating, as if acceptance of agreed boundaries is what grants meaning or measures quality or taste. That turned something that should be an artistic and social question into a political challenge. Ridding ourselves of this needless push toward politization is key to rebuilding enjoyable, thoughtful, free discussion.
 
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Whitecrow

Banned
I think the 'right-leaning' thing about current GAF is a falacy.

I think we are more like the 'true-left' Era is pretending and failing to be, in terms of respect and tolerance to the diversity of opinions, and open-ness of discussions.
 
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And see that is the problem right there. Thinking “is it okay” rather than “is it well done” is childlike thinking. Value and dignity is not just a matter how of what we allow or disallow. But comparing one form of serious content to another should indeed immediately make one think “If the inclusion of rape is poorly handled, what does make all the murder well-handled?” and there realize it is contextual to the presentation, upon which one realizes the whole game is crafted around bringing meaning to the murder through the characterization and story context in a somewhat realistic human manner including the resulting impacts both personal and social, which wasn’t done with the rape.

Instead, by just looking at the very different question of “why is this allowed?” people kept pointing to the rating, as if acceptance of agreed boundaries is what grants meaning or measures quality or taste. That turned something that should be an artistic and social question into a political challenge. Ridding ourselves of this needless push toward politization is key to rebuilding enjoyable, thoughtful, free discussion.

im always the person who will defend 'either its all okay or nothing is'. once you get into well this was handled well or not is almost irrelevant. you will start to get people who have to have things fit their needs. some will say the killing in this game isnt handled properly and therefore it needs to be changed or another aspect in this game isnt handled properly and needs to be changed. everyone has a different perspective. and if a game is truly 'art' you cant ask the people who created said art to change it based on your specific needs and you HAVE to take the art as it comes. or else it stops being art and it becomes something else entirely. the act of making something good and making something bad comes from the same place. you have to take the bad aspect of a particular game as well as you do the good or else its meaningless and its more childish to even ask for it to be removed. for all you know there could be a couple people this particular moment in the game had a weird maybe good maybe bad like connection but the fact it was there is something. not everything you will find will be a 10/10 in terms of connecting with people but the chance it will maybe is worth other people being offended. well done is subjective
 

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Exactly! And discussing those differences of perspective and what we personally think was well done or poorly done and why we feel that way is literally why discussion forums like this exist so I completely disagree that it is “almost irrelevant” and would love to see us get back to that kind of discussion rather than assuming that when someone disapproves of something it means they want it forced out. I don’t get why we can discuss graphics, controls, combat mechanics, progression systems, and level design all day but not these other things. I think politics scared us out of it and caused many to personally devalue them.
 
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Exactly! And discussing those differences of perspective and what we personally think was well done or poorly done and why we feel that way is literally why discussion forums like this exist so I complete disagree that it is “almost irrelevant” and would love to see us get back to that kind of discussion rather than assuming that when someone disapproves of something it means they want it forced out. I don’t get why we can discuss graphics, controls, combat mechanics, progression systems, and level design all day but not these other things. I think politics scared us out of it and caused many to personally devalue them.
Yes.

Just because there are people out there who clutch pearls and whine about those issues doesn't mean everyone who wants to discuss those topics is also a pearl-clutcher. We have a good mod team and (generally) an atmosphere of respect here. Why not capitalize on that and have the discussions we want? It makes sense that we should critique things and express frustration. That doesn't mean we want it censored or trimmed back for everyone.
 
It's a vast improvement. I used to lurk exclusively in the gaming section but had no interest in joining up, due to the amount of preposterous garbage that was constantly posted from people who thankfully now reside elsewhere.

I don't feel like it's lacking activity, either. Never been a fan of places where you can post something only to see it vanish off the front page in seconds. Not exactly conducive to having an exchange with someone.
 

ROMhack

Member
I don't think it's complicated. If your primary reason to exist is to allow people to discuss things then being open and relying on self-moderation is the best principle. I know it can often get disjointed because of the inherent edginess of certain parts of the gaming community but you have to trust in your community and not enforce rules too hard. It's something I think the GAF does really well.

Comparatively, RE fails on almost all accounts. I like the quality of discussion but it's the type of forum I'd rather much rather punch into Google after I've finished a game.
 
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Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Moderation policy has maybe swung a little too lax (I recall some chucklefuck spouting the idea that Ethnostates are A-OK and not getting banned for it) but on the whole things are on the mend. GAF will continue to get better for the time being. At this very moment, it's a good place to have conversations.
 
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More discourse, less banning.

However, you're going to have to deal with some less than ideal political views if you are on the left. There are times when I welcome the discussion here and other times I need to walk away for a while. Still, I prefer the more open format.
 

Papa

Banned
And see that is the problem right there. Thinking “is it okay” rather than “is it well done” is childlike thinking. Value and dignity is not just a matter how of what we allow or disallow. But comparing one form of serious content to another should indeed immediately make one think “If the inclusion of rape is poorly handled, what does make all the murder well-handled?” and there realize it is contextual to the presentation, upon which one realizes the whole game is crafted around bringing meaning to the murder through the characterization and story context in a somewhat realistic human manner including the resulting impacts both personal and social, which wasn’t done with the rape.

Instead, by just looking at the very different question of “why is this allowed?” people kept pointing to the rating, as if acceptance of agreed boundaries is what grants meaning or measures quality or taste. That turned something that should be an artistic and social question into a political challenge. Ridding ourselves of this needless push toward politization is key to rebuilding enjoyable, thoughtful, free discussion.

I get your point, but I think you’re missing a lot of context in making it. People are tired after years of finger-wagging scolds telling them off for the most minor grievances in games and other forms of media that they enjoy. Everything has become political and even the most minor molehill gets turned into Kilimanjaro, especially on topics involving women, race, and so on. To a lot of people, the rape scene in RDR2 was a welcome surprise, because it represented a light at the end of the PC tunnel; a throwback to the brash and unapologetic humour of games from before the social justice mob sunk their claws into everything. In this context, it makes sense that people would be sensitive to someone coming in to wag the finger and rain on the parade. You may not have been necessarily right or wrong, I just think your timing was off.
 

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Regardless of what we all together decide to discuss or not, I do feel we are the ones deciding, so people are being honest and finding points of contact between their real self and others, so it is an actual community, not some kind of performance. That is what makes it good here.
 
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Blam

Member
Place was a little slow at the start of the year but has picked up pace pretty well and the mods have been doing a great job of keeping the forum an open and civil place to discuss.

If you dont like the political crap just dont go in the separate forum

To those that love having views forced on them and are waiting for era memberships...take a look here and ask yourself how long do you think you will last if you are a straight white Male that does not align to sjw or extreme left views? http://resetera.kiwifarms.net


They are averaging close to around 500-700 bans per month
So basically what you're telling me either the bans slow down or they ramp up and they'd have less then 3.5 years till they ban everyone?
 

Elfstar

Member
I think the 'right-leaning' thing about current GAF is a falacy.

I think we are more like the 'true-left' Era is pretending and failing to be, in terms of respect and tolerance to the diversity of opinions, and open-ness of discussions.
I'm sure than most of the so called alt-righters, anti-left, and even some of those /pol/ nutjobs are just former leftists that are now disgruntled and resentful about modern liberals being overly hostile against them, and so obsessed with identity politics, politically correctness and censorship.
 
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Shifty

Member
The atmosphere has improved a lot relative to old 'culture of fear' gaf, and the downtick in politics talk invading otherwise-normal conversations is great.

As others have said however, I feel like the moderation has swung past 'moderate' and into 'lax'. There's been some pretty intense trolling from certain directions that's been met with a slap on the wrist rather than the full banhammer, and posters so inclined are still at liberty to throw around epithets and other insult-tier nonsense without being advised to reconsider their contribution to the discussion.

There is of course something to be said for tolerance and the notion that a bit of guidance from the mods can encourage people to up their GAF game, but there's a point where that approach stops being effective and you end up with continued unchecked shitposting.

If anything, I visit this place less now than I did in the months following the meltdown. Losing the far-left ideologue population has been great, but I come here for the videogames, not the embittered complaining about 'Era' this, 'Dumb NPC people' that, and 'Fake journalism' the other. And boy is there a lot of that these days.
 
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Whitecrow

Banned
I'm sure than most of the so called alt-righters, anti-left, and even some of those /pol/ nutjobs are just former leftists that are now disgruntled and resentful about modern liberals being overly hostile against them, and so obsessed with identity politics, politically correctness and censorship.
Maybe.

With all the extremism, people may have lost perspective on the right-left spectrum. One can be leftist, while totally disapproving and disagreeing with the most extreme left we are seeing these days.

The atmosphere has improved a lot relative to old 'culture of fear' gaf, and the downtick in politics talk invading otherwise-normal conversations is great.

As others have said however, I feel like the moderation has swung past 'moderate' and into 'lax'. There's been some pretty intense trolling from certain directions that's been met with a slap on the wrist rather than the full banhammer, and posters so inclined are still at liberty to throw around epithets and other insult-tier nonsense without being advised to reconsider their contribution to the discussion.

There is of course something to be said for tolerance and the notion that a bit of guidance from the mods can encourage people to up their GAF game, but there's a point where that approach stops being effective and you end up with continued unchecked shitposting.

If anything, I visit this place less now than I did in the months following the meltdown. Losing the far-left ideologue population has been great, but I come here for the videogames, not the embittered complaining about 'Era' this, 'Dumb NPC people' that, and 'Fake journalism' the other. And boy is there a lot of that these days.

I would say that a bit of trolling is lot less harmful that a moral regime. And I for all the time I'm here, I still have to see some really intolerable trolling.
 
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Elfstar

Member
Maybe.

With all the extremism, people may have lost perspective on the right-left spectrum. One can be leftist, while totally disapproving and disagreeing with the most extreme left we are seeing these days.
One might even argue that there's nothing "leftist" anymore about people ignoring and mocking poor people and worker's rights to just focus about gender and race victimhood, but hey, that might just be the American Way after all.
 
Its a bit dead. Even reset is a pale imitation of the hey day of gaf. It's quite slow on reset too. It's just a small core of very active users. It's just pretty boring at both places. Yeah it was hectic at old GAF but it was pretty entertaining and very fast moving. Lots of threads and active users.
 

Blam

Member
The atmosphere has improved a lot relative to old 'culture of fear' gaf, and the downtick in politics talk invading otherwise-normal conversations is great.

As others have said however, I feel like the moderation has swung past 'moderate' and into 'lax'. There's been some pretty intense trolling from certain directions that's been met with a slap on the wrist rather than the full banhammer, and posters so inclined are still at liberty to throw around epithets and other insult-tier nonsense without being advised to reconsider their contribution to the discussion.

There is of course something to be said for tolerance and the notion that a bit of guidance from the mods can encourage people to up their GAF game, but there's a point where that approach stops being effective and you end up with continued unchecked shitposting.

If anything, I visit this place less now than I did in the months following the meltdown. Losing the far-left ideologue population has been great, but I come here for the videogames, not the embittered complaining about 'Era' this, 'Dumb NPC people' that, and 'Fake journalism' the other. And boy is there a lot of that these days.

I completely understand where you're coming from with the trolling but honestly if you see it report it. Talk about it and be vocal about these things and they'll change. Sure we don't have as much instant gaming information here but people need to contribute to threads to make that happen, and that's something people slowly are growing to do, and it's sorta difficult to see new users immediately begin posting HQ threads. Maybe you can try your hand at it if you see news that isn't here why not post it.

Its a bit dead. Even reset is a pale imitation of the hey day of gaf. It's quite slow on reset too. It's just a small core of very active users. It's just pretty boring at both places. Yeah it was hectic at old GAF but it was pretty entertaining and very fast moving. Lots of threads and active users.

It's mainly because most people just left to goto discord. Because they know the ERA mods are batshit insane. So they might as well do all that work themselves and honestly I've seen a shitload more activity in those discords then anywhere else.
 
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Whitecrow

Banned
I wonder if a new identity (no pun intended... I think) would attract more users here and help to grow the community.
Maybe the term "GAF" just brings bad mood now for everyone who stoped coming here and a lot of people just doesnt want to get involved anymore.

Maybe a new umbrella to cover what we are now would come handy.
Just an idea.
 

GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
I wonder if a new identity (no pun intended... I think) would attract more users here and help to grow the community.
Maybe the term "GAF" just brings bad mood now for everyone who stoped coming here and a lot of people just doesnt want to get involved anymore.

Maybe a new umbrella to cover what we are now would come handy.
Just an idea.

It's definitely something to consider imo. Whenever you read of NeoGaf's reputation off-site(ie somewhere like Reddit) it's generally negative.

It could be bit of a double-edged sword though as you'd be losing the well known name recognition. But considering a large chunk of the old userbase left and the site is essentially rebuilding itself there might be more upside than downside.
 
It's definitely something to consider imo. Whenever you read of NeoGaf's reputation off-site(ie somewhere like Reddit) it's generally negative.

It could be bit of a double-edged sword though as you'd be losing the well known name recognition. But considering a large chunk of the old userbase left and the site is essentially rebuilding itself there might be more upside than downside.
That negative reputation was built over time, though. And it wasn't only due to the "fallout" surrounding various political opinions and unfounded accusations. GAF was known as the forum of 'entitled elitist crybabies' for many years.

It will take time to rebuild a new reputation.
 

kingbean

Member
After purposefully getting myself banned on resetera I came back to gaf. I've been a lurker for 7 years and only a poster for a short time. I'm pretty liberal but I'm not a bleeding heart snowflake that believes in censorship. I also don't want my guns taken away nor do I believe there is anything wrong with things being sexy.

Gaf seems more level headed than ever, politics now seem to be more focused on how sour the left can be instead of damning people for not being pure enough. That's fine, but kinda low hanging fruit imo.

I miss the gaming news, I used to use gaf instead of going to shithole gaming news sites.
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
Full of over vocal right wing blow-hards. They troll every forum, political or not. They are a minority by internal poll numbers (20-25%), but they gang up and post more than everyone else. I just stay away from the Politics sub-forum, which is the way they like it, no discourse just an echo chamber.
 

GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
That negative reputation was built over time, though. And it wasn't only due to the "fallout" surrounding various political opinions and unfounded accusations. GAF was known as the forum of 'entitled elitist crybabies' for many years.

It will take time to rebuild a new reputation.

Right but wouldn't that only cement the idea that it needs a new name? Playing devil's advocate here..
 
Right but wouldn't that only cement the idea that it needs a new name? Playing devil's advocate here..
Hard to say. Wouldn't the new forum name just be labeled "the new name for that old whiny, entitled forum called NeoGAF"?

A name is just a name. The community earns its own reputation. Imagine, for a moment, if there was a sustained march of exceptional content posted to Gamespot's System Wars board circa 2009. In spite of console-warmongering, I'd expect that board to slowly build itself a good reputation over time. Wouldn't you?

In the same way, there's nothing wrong with owning up to the forum's past. It is obnoxious to deal with drive-bys and insults but perhaps it is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our thicker skin -- something that couldn't be said about old-NeoGaf.
 

CGwizz

Member
ResetEra is worst than Gaf ever was, the moderation style there are basically the same as that pedophile prick we had around here for years that was batshit crazy in moderations.

BTW is neogaf still infested with pedophiles like it was before?
 

GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
Hard to say. Wouldn't the new forum name just be labeled "the new name for that old whiny, entitled forum called NeoGAF"?

A name is just a name. The community earns its own reputation. Imagine, for a moment, if there was a sustained march of exceptional content posted to Gamespot's System Wars board circa 2009. In spite of console-warmongering, I'd expect that board to slowly build itself a good reputation over time. Wouldn't you?

In the same way, there's nothing wrong with owning up to the forum's past. It is obnoxious to deal with drive-bys and insults but perhaps it is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our thicker skin -- something that couldn't be said about old-NeoGaf.

See this is sort of my point. We already use old-NeoGaf and new-NeoGaf to differentiate but you can't really market and brand new-NeoGaf to outsiders...they just see NeoGaf.

It's possible that some would see it as a sly move or quick fix to it's reputation...and I'd probably agree with them if it happen'd a month after "the incident". But it's been a year since then and NeoGaf has been rebuilding it's reputation (on-site) in spite of it's name. So if a name change occurred now/in the future I would not agree that with that it is a sly or qucik fix move.

Anyway not really saying it's a must do just saying it could be considered.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Hi, i'm more of a glorified lurker than an actual poster, but i'll try to improve my contribuition to this place since it's starting to look way better than it used to be.

Yes, traffic is slow, especially on the gaming side, but at least it means we can have more meaningful, quality discussions, without all the stupid mass dogpilings and the one-liner, low quality shitposts. Kinda.

Also, it's true, this place is way more right-leaning now, it actually looks like a r/KotakuInAction official forum (fine by me, since it's a very civil subreddit, unlike old Gaf and the other place), and we get some occasional /v/ and /pol/ shitposter tossing around their dumb buzzwords, but still it's so great to finally have a reasonable, rational moderation that allows people to actually speak their mind instead of acting like a crazy, dystopian thought police.
I've also noticed there are a bunch of posters that are here only to try to stir shit and to troll, because they desperately want to frame this place as a neo-nazi comunity and to show to their like-minded friends that they're fighting the good fight, and it's sad because it really shows how much these people are accustomed to just silencing other opinions and living their childish "good vs evil" delusions.

It's also true that having people costantly posting about Era might not be much healty for this comunity, but i can understand how much people might need to vent about it since how laughably unbearable and oppressive that place is, so to concede everyone a couple of containment threads it's the right choice in my opinion.

Also the separated Politics board it's a great thing, and i've always advocated for it since long time ago, in spite of all those crazy "EVERYTHING IS POLITICS" folks.

In the end of the day, i like how this place has become, i just wish there was some more activity on the gaming board (just a little bit).

I agree with you for the most part, assuming by "way more right-leaning" you are making the comparison to the old community where they actively banned and silenced any right-leaning members. "Way more" of 5 when looking at hundreds is still not a lot.

I don't think you understand what "alt-right" means, nor did anyone really care until Hillary Clinton mentioned it.

Please read the thread. They stated it was a joke.

Full of over vocal right wing blow-hards. They troll every forum, political or not. They are a minority by internal poll numbers (20-25%), but they gang up and post more than everyone else. I just stay away from the Politics sub-forum, which is the way they like it, no discourse just an echo chamber.

So, instead of actively trying to bring forth a dissenting opinion to the centrist-focused political forum, you whine that it is an echo chamber and refuse to contribute? You do realize the fallacy of that thinking, right? I very rarely see these supposed "right wing blow-hards". I see more posts like yours that whine about it than actual offenders.
 
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I think this will calm down eventually. You have to consider how right wing opinions were considered for the last couple of years on GAF and Resetera.

I think so too. I was banned on OldGAF for a month or so for just describing a racially charged meme, and labelled flat out racist, but I'm not. I always thought of myself as left-wing and still am but I don't associate with the mainstream far-left rhetoric.

It would be nicer when the right/left on this forum settles down a bit. For example, I see a big pile up on the biggest left-wing forum members whenever they post and it's a bit unfair.

But the new politics discussion board is nice. I find myself clicking there more often than OT, and just as much as the gaming board (I can't seem to get enough of the anti gaming journalism threads, they're comedy gold, and please, gaming journalists, fuck up more often for my pleasure, thanks!)
 

bigedole

Member
I love Neu-Gaf. Started lurking as I started my first job after college due to my love of video games. Eventually registered and quickly realised posting wasn't really worthwhile outside of really niche topics of interest to me or the longer lived community topics. Stuff moved too quickly and only a very few posts of any real substance were made. It was basically a news aggregator. I grew older, had my first kid and continued to play lots of video games. Then 2015/2016 happened and the shit just went into overdrive. It was just really awful, and I started seeing this place in a really negative, cynical light. I'll admit, when the schism happened I actually felt at first that EL deserved to be eaten by what I perceived as "His own". It was a fascinating event to watch in real time as what was probably one of the largest communities of individuals on the internet just quite literally imploded.

Probably more out of routine than anything, I continued to follow the site in the aftermath. EL started talking about what happened and I think I found it a little cathartic. For a long time I had felt trapped in these bubbles of IdPol minded communities on both reddit and NeoGAF as that was pretty much all of my internet exposure to other people. People kind of bonded over rejecting that mindset here at the start of the rebuild, and it was probably the first time I ever felt like I really wanted to be apart of this place. It was much bigger than just right/left politics, it was focusing on what I think is a very real danger to the western liberal values that are the foundation of our society and constitution. Whether you're talking about games, hot ladies or the wage gap, it was important to the people that remained that these conversations happen in a respectful and reasonable way. Even though I disagree with a lot of people on a lot of issues, it was really encouraging to see that the conversation could just be had without immediately demonizing/dog-piling anyone that didn't tow the line of the moderation staff, and ultimately isn't this the single most important thing to get right on an internet forum?

The whole purpose of this place is to discuss topics we all find interesting, and in that sense it is a thousand percent better than Old GAF was, because moderation isn't telling us what to find interesting or what opinions are ok to have. Regardless of the 'tone' people feel exists here, this is the singular most important difference between then and now. If you disagree with a poster, then say why. Don't appeal to moderation to shut them down because you think it's not ok to have the opinion they do. The 'tone' is likely going to be something that changes over time, which kind of makes sense in the grand scheme of things. As long as we're all free to say what we think, disagree with who we think are wrong and avoid the driveby "Yikes" and generally low effort shitposts, then I don't think I really care if we move slower. I spend a much greater percentage of my time actively reading/participating in GAF now than I did the first 5 years I was visiting here.
 

TayTay

Banned
8ElAST8.gif


How would you know given you apparently only registered less than 3 weeks ago?

Also maybe check out this thread before you start going with the Alt-Right Rhetoric: -

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/poli...l-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours.1460934/

Right of you, don't necessarily translate to being right wing.

Long time lurker.
 

TrainedRage

Banned
But... game devs aren't journalists....?
Yeah you are right. I'm talking about the ones who feel the need to go on social media and flame the user base for whatever potential game. Basically the ones who white knight and virtue signal etc.
 
Good thread so far imo. Just adding my worthless opinion to whats been somewhat discussed so far...

- "Insiders" left before October 2017. Whether that was people officially associated with companies or people posting anonymously. Can't blame them. Companies didn't want to be associated with this toxic community. And people didn't want to be dog piled or worse for saying something "we" didn't like. Gaf had some truly shitty people. Wiling to attempt destroying someones life with fucked up justification.

- We had a good number of bullshitters here as well. Lots of people pretending (IMO) to be members of oppressed groups. Constantly punching their keyboards about "PRIVILEGE" and "POWER" when in reality everyone in Gaf was in the privileged class. If you have access to Video Games, home Internet and Computer access, Smart Phones, 3 Hots and a Cot... then you are incredibly privileged. You are easily in the top 10% of all privileged people in the world. Most of the world doesn't have access to all of those things. Could you have said that on Old Gaf, NO! Why? (next point)

- Where Gaf really fucked up (Again IMO) is giving certain groups ultimate protection from criticism, allowing those groups to determine what was offensive and rule breaking based on how they felt (remember "shut up and listen"? more on that below). And then giving them the freedom to attack certain groups. Unfair fight where one person was allowed to throw punches and it was an unwritten rule for the other to do the same.Shut up and listen and discussion board don't go together. It started the beginning of the end.

- It started the transition from a "discussion" board to a "statement" board. But we kept up the illusion that we were a discussion board. We did so through fucked up justifications like changing the definition of racism for example. Or calling opposition childish insults that had a ton of venom behind it. We went from a site that welcomed all, that said we didn't tolerate hate to a site that allowed certain groups to preach their hate because they got it rough in life.

- The numbers for the ultra left grew in Gaf. Slowly started to push out people who didn't see it their way. They had some Mods who sided with that narrative. Also started to push it. And before we knew it, the site was held hostage by this group. And then the rest of the site had to tip toe around them... even the non comprised Mods. Because we all knew they would throw a hissy fit and tear up the site. And we were all still feeling sorry for the OMG oppressed groups here too. Shit hit the fan like it was inevitably going to.

- I look at Gaf like this : We threw a party. Everyone came and got shit faced. Tore up the house and yard. Got noise complaints. All the party folk left. We are left to clean up the mess. And clean up we will. It will be better than before we threw the first party. Hopefully we learn the lessons so we have a better second party.

- Is the NeoGaf name holding us back? I don't think so personally. I do realize that there are people who still think NeoGaf is what it once was. Even people who are aware of Oct 2017. But I say that is only like 10% of the issue.

- Discussion boards are a niche thing. Sure plenty are "looking" for one and they'd love to be a member and share their comments. But they aren't interested in hearing the opposition. So they are really looking for statement boards... agreement boards. Boards that will allow them to say their opinion and weed out anyone who disagrees.

- I said this once months ago, but big thanks to EviLore EviLore for keeping this site going. I wouldn't have done that if I were you. I would have sold the site when you were offered millions for it. I know you take the bulk of the hate and insults towards the site.

- Thank you staff for all your tireless thankless work you do so we can talk about RDR2 Horse Balls and argue resolution importance. I do not envy your job or title here, but I am thankful for your work.

- Thank you to all Neogaf posters here. Yes even you reading this right now. We may agree and disagree and like or dislike certain topics, but you are a huge part of why this site rocks! I appreciate you even when I think you say something dumb as dog shit.

- Off Topic, I may lose Bryce Harper if he doesn't resign. But we have Juan Soto!
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The real winner of the 2017 GAF schism is r/games.

In general Reddit has been displacing traditional Internet forums for years now. What happened to GAF in 2017 merely accelerated the decline in the end.
 

bshock

Neo Member
Been lurking a bit here and finally registered. Seems like a pretty chill place for casual conversation.

ERA had become unbearable for me, most recently banned for calling out someone for stirring up the pot on a racial issue that didn’t even exist within an article. I was told I was dismissive of racism in the country and some other such bullshit. If you aren’t part of the hive mind there, you will not make it.

Look forward to making my new roots here.
 
- I look at Gaf like this : We threw a party. Everyone came and got shit faced. Tore up the house and yard. Got noise complaints. All the party folk left. We are left to clean up the mess. And clean up we will. It will be better than before we threw the first party. Hopefully we learn the lessons so we have a better second party.
This is a really good illustration! :D

- Is the NeoGaf name holding us back? I don't think so personally. I do realize that there are people who still think NeoGaf is what it once was. Even people who are aware of Oct 2017. But I say that is only like 10% of the issue.
Arguably, the name repels people who are inclined to judge something based on hot takes and second-hand impressions. Those types of members willingly exclude themselves from the community based on rumor and skin-deep notions of what this site currently is. So, we are left with a concentration of people who took a look beneath the surface and decided to become involved with the community.

Russian bot confirmed
Caught me! :lollipop_anxious_sweat:
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
I think the 'right-leaning' thing about current GAF is a falacy.

I think we are more like the 'true-left' Era is pretending and failing to be, in terms of respect and tolerance to the diversity of opinions, and open-ness of discussions.

I agree. Just because the majority of members here are not extreme far left reveling in Identity Politics and virtue signaling does not automatically make them alt-right Nazis. I believe the majority of posters are classical Liberals and/or Libertarians.

In my opinion there are more far left posters than far right, but fortunately the majority like Yoshi Yoshi , Nobody_Important Nobody_Important and others are able to discuss their views intelligently and articulately without name calling. Their contributions are invaluable in keeping opinions diverse here. Many of the true far right posters tend to get banned as they don't conduct themselves in the same respectful manner.
 

Sacred

Member
More suffocatingly right wing. Wish it was a little easier to avoid people whining about the “left” and “NPCs” and “SJWs”

You are used to everyone dog piling on everybody with a different opinion, It's actually probably pretty evenly split from what I have seen. Although, it looks like more ree members are registering/posting here again lately to ruin everyone's fun.
 
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